Senators urge support for immigration measure

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., left, speaks next to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a news conference on immigration reform at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. NICK UT, AP

DID YOU KNOW? It is estimated there are 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates California alone has 2.5 million immigrants who are here illegally.

LOS ANGELES – Two of the eight senators who hammered out a comprehensive immigration reform bill urged colleagues in the House on Tuesday to reject a piecemeal approach to the issue and they solicited the help of churches and other groups to present a wide swath of support for their broad measure.

Speaking at the USC Schwarzenegger Institute Forum on Immigration Reform, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said they believed that sort of heat coupled with getting 70 votes in the Senate would be necessary "because the forces are pushing back" on the controversial measure unveiled last month.

"There's going to have to be significant pressure to bear to our friends on the other side of Capitol," McCain said.

MAY DAY RALLIES

Several May Day events will happen Wednesday, including one sponsored by the Orange County May Day Coalition that will take place at Sasscer Park in Santa Ana as well as one through Los Angeles that will end up on historic Olvera Street. Both events were organized to promote passage of the comprehensive immigration approach that includes a five-year timetable to secure the border, a pathway to citizenship for those who can pass background checks and entered the country before Jan. 1 that can take anywhere from five to 13 years, and a larger pool of work visas.

It is estimated that there are 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that California alone has 2.5 million immigrants living here without legal permission.

With Bennet saying he expects the mammoth immigration proposal to be passed in June, many churches are already gearing up to make sure Congress doesn't forget about the human aspect of the issue.

McCain also called the passage of comprehensive reform a human rights issue and said illegal immigration has been tied to human trafficking, "coyotes" – "the worst scum of the Earth" – who bring people over, and the flow of guns and drugs across the border.

"We're a Judeo-Christian nation," McCain said. "And by God, shouldn't we stop this if we have the ability to do so?"

Gary Walgenbach, director of the office of respect life, peace and justice at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, said the issue of immigration has always been important to the church and he said he hoped the House wouldn't prove to be an obstacle in moving the comprehensive proposal forward – even if the diocese finds some of the timetables laid out in the proposal to be "punitive" and onerous.

"If you break the bill down into small components, everyone will settle into their pat sides of the issue," Walgenbach said. "It won't be a holistic, comprehensive solution and, in the end, won't address the problem."

He said the church is planning a variety of forums as well as community prayer events to "share the human stories' of immigration.

ENFORCEMENT FIRST PROPONENTS

Opponents to the comprehensive approach – including U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, and U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton – want to focus on putting enforcement measures in place that include a worker verification system known as E-Verify and securing the border while opposing a pathway to citizenship. Rohrabacher spokeswoman Tara Setmayer said the comprehensive approach was a mistake.

"The current bill will simply incentivize millions more to come to the U.S. illegally with the hopes of being awarded amnesty, not deter them. Give the American people an opportunity to decide which areas of reform make sense and which ones do not through individual bills addressing various parts of immigration rather than trying to shove a behemoth bill down their throats before anyone knows what's actually in it," Setmayer said. "Have we not learned our lesson yet from the disastrous Obamacare 'comprehensive law'?"

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., left, speaks next to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a news conference on immigration reform at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. NICK UT, AP
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks during a news conference on immigration reform at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. The event hosted by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger featured McCain and Michael Bennet co-authors of the bipartisan immigration reform bill. NICK UT, AP
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at a news conference on immigration reform at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Tuesday. NICK UT, AP

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